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Second round of migrant aid reimbursements hopes to broaden eligibility

A map on display at the Las Cruces, New Mexico shelter for asylum seekers on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019.(Photo: Nathan J Fish/Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES — Local organizations that pitched in to temporarily house, feed and care for migrants released into Las Cruces and other Borderland communities can soon apply for a second round of reimbursement money from the federal government.

For those organizations that missed out during the first round, they're hoping the government follows through on broadening the expenses eligible for reimbursement.

Organizations can access the new application for reimbursement Monday, Feb. 17. The application window will be open until March 16. The national board of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program will announce reimbursement recipients May 4.

The money is coming from the EFSP through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Representatives from religious organizations, cities and food banks received application information on a conference call Tuesday with Reps. Xochitl Torres Small, D-NM, and Henry Cuellar, D-TX, representatives from Rep. Veronica Escobar's, D-TX, office and representatives from the EFSP national board.

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A young migrant boy colors a Spider-Man coloring book at the Doña Ana County Crisis Triage Center, which was converted into a temporary shelter for asylum seekers, on April 17, 2019.(Photo: Blake Gumprecht/Sun-News)

U.S. Border Patrol dropped off migrants in Las Cruces and other Borderland communities starting in April of last year. By October, 17,000 had been released in Las Cruces. Neighboring communities El Paso and Deming often saw daily asylum seeker releases close to 300.

What followed in those places was an outpouring of aid from local churches, food banks and municipal governments, which partnered to shelter the asylum seekers and help them locate relatives or a sponsoring household where their asylum hearings were set to take place, often hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Some volunteers used their personal vehicles to help transport migrants to shelters, bus stations or airports so they could get to those hearings. Others helped pay out of pocket for essentials like food, medical supplies and clothes. Las Cruces and Deming both allocated at least $1 million each to assist the migrants.

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U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., speaks at a town hall at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces on Jan. 21, 2020.(Photo: Michael McDevitt/Sun-News)

"You reflect the best of our country, so thank you to every single one of you," Andrew Bostjancic, from Catholic Charities USA, told organizations on the phone call.

Torres Small said she was grateful to "see individuals, nonprofits and faith groups, all of you to stand up and do this work without any guarantee of reimbursement." She called their work "an essential safety net."

One of the concerns during the first round of reimbursements was some organizations weren't able to receive funds since they didn't keep receipts from the aid work they engaged in.

FEMA also limited what expenses could be reimbursed. Some groups also didn't track expenses and paid for some with gift cards.

Two members of the EFSP national board — Bostjancic and Bryan Harrison from the Salvation Army — said FEMA is considering changes to which organizations qualify for reimbursements to create more inclusivity.

Those changes were formulated after the national EFSP board visited the affected communities after the first repayment round.

"There are some new changes as a direct result of the folks on the ground," Cuellar said.

Some of those changes include lengthening the application process from one week to one month, reducing the reporting requirements for organizations that may have kept less documentation and expanding the period of service available for reimbursement.

While people from the aid groups on the call wanted to know what would now count for eligibility, Bostjancic said nothing has been finalized.

"We've been working to make this process as simple as possible and make the money as accessible as possible," Harrison said.

Cuellar said $7.8 million in funds were reimbursed during the first round and paid back organizations for services lasting from January through the end of June 2019.

The second round will expand the time frame from Jan. 1, 2019 to Jan. 31, 2020 — the expanded period will allow organizations that missed the first round apply to receive part of the other $21.6 million.

Torres Small also introduced legislation in October that would cover outstanding expenses and fund community-organized asylum shelters in case the releases start up again. It would allocate $60 million for the next three fiscal years to EFSP for that purpose.

Border Patrol has since halted releasing asylum seekers into those communities. While it's traditionally been legal for asylum seekers to be in the country while they pursue their case, Department of Homeland Security policy now makes asylum seekers wait in Mexico. The US House Judiciary Committee is investigating the merits of that policy.